Bostan Karim
Bostan Karim (also transliterated as '''Bostan Qaseem')'' is a citizen of Afghanistan currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 975. Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1970, in Khowst, Afghanistan. As of October 17, 2010, Bostan Karim has been held at Guantanamo without ever been charged for seven years seven months. Combatant Status Review Karim was among the 60% of prisoners who chose to participate in tribunal hearings.OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007 A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee. Karim's memo accused him of the following: detainees ARB|Set_31_2145-2265.pdf#77}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Bostan Karim's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 77-83 To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 462 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released unofficial lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Bostan Karim was one of those 169 detainees. Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Bostan Karim's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - September 21, 2004 - page 59 Karim chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.detainees ARB|ARB_Transcript_Set_10_21352-21661.pdf#138}} Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Bostan Karim's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 138-150 Factors for and against Karim's continued detention The factors for and against a detainee's continued detention are always broken down into related sections. Most detainee's transcripts retain the factor's classifications. But Karim's transcript did not. *''During the Russian/Afghan war, while he was a refugee in Miranshah, Pakistan, the detainee served with the Mujahideen based in Pakistan. *''The detainee is said to be an Afghan al Qaida member residing in Khowst and the planner for their attacks in the region. *''Prior to his arrest, the detainee traveled in Afghanistan and Pakistan to recruit for the Tablighi. On this trip the detainee claimed that he was the Amir of the Group of Tablighis. *''The detainee claimed that he is shopkeeper and a Tablighi. *''The detainee is said to have stored mines at his residence and to have had direct communication with Arab al Qaida members operating out of Peshawar. *''The detainee is believed to be a leader of an Afghan al Qaida cell in Khowst, Province, Afghanistan. *''A raid was conducted on the home of the detainee’s associate. The raid netted several active anti-tank mines and empty mine shells with explosives removed. *''An associate believes the detainee may have belonged to one of the warlord groups in Khowst. *''Another associate of the detainee described the detainee as a religious person, not a Taliban member but definitely a friend of the Taliban. *''The detainee is said to have told several people that he was preparing to conduct command-detonated mine attacks against U.S. Forces. Shortly after this threat, U.S. Forces discovered and destroyed in place two apparently command-detonated, probably plastic shelled, anti-tank mines that had been pladed in holes on a highway in Afghanistan. *''The detainee is said to have asked an associate to store some land mines at his home. *''The detainee is said to have passed information to an associate on how to detonate mines. *''The detainee promised to pay an associate if he planted mines. *''The detainee was apprehended because he matched the description of an al Qaida bomb cell leader and had a Thuraya phone. *''The detainee’s palms were significantly scarred and the burn patterns were consistent with something burning or exploding while being held. *''As associate of the detainee said that he had no knowledge of the detainee being associated with the Taliban or al Qaida and he had no knowledge of the detainee being involved with explosives. *''A family member of the detainee claims the detainee has had scars on his hand since before the family member was born. *''The detainee claims an associate gave him the cell phone while going through a police checkpoint. *''One of the detainee’s accusers has recanted his story about the detainee giving him mines. The accuser now claims the detainee did not give him mines, but that the person who previously resided in the house left the mines at his residence. He also says the detainee did not pass him information on how to detonate mines. *''An accuser of the detainee has since recanted his statement about the detainee’s connection to anti-tank mines and now claims the detainee was not connected to setting anti-tank mines. *''The detainee adamantly denied ever giving his associate anti-tank mines. *''The detainee denied having any other associations to al Qaida or Taliban members or their whereabouts. The detainee stated that the al Qaida and Taliban are “lost”. *''An associate of the detainee said the detainee was not associated with al Qaida. Habeas corpus submission Bostan Karim is one of the sixteen Guantanamo captives whose amalgamated habeas corpus submissions were heard by US District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton on January 31, 2007. Although a writ of habeas corpus had been submitted on his behalf, the DoD did not release the unclassified dossier from his Tribunal. The DoD has not offered an explanation why his dossier was not included with the dossiers of the other captives released in September 2007. Guantanamo Medical records On 16 March 2007 the Department of Defense published medical records for the captives. mirror According to those records Bostan Karim was 70 inches tall. According to those records his first weigh-in was on March 23, 2003, when he weighed 172 pounds. He had two more weigh-ins in 2003, eleven weigh-ins in 2004, and a weigh-in in January 2005. Those weights were in the range 150 to 166 pounds. References External links * The Guantánamo Files: Website Extras (12) – The Last of the Afghans (Part Two) Andy Worthington * The Stories of the Afghans Just Released from Guantánamo: Intelligence Failures, Battlefield Myths and Unaccountable Prisons in Afghanistan (Part Two) Andy Worthington * Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Eight: Captured in Afghanistan (2002-07) Andy Worthington Category:Living people Category:People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Category:Afghan extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:1970 births Category:People from Khost